A Special Errand
by I Cant Think of Anything Else
Summary: Artemis is on a special mission that involves Hephaestus's help. Sibling Bonding Only. One-Shot. After BoO.


**Hey People! This is one of my versions of an epilogue for Blood of Olympus. Hope you guys enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson Series (I hope that is obvious).**

Climbing hour after hour. The movement kept her upright. Step after step, it all lead upward. She was interrogating herself with every step, doubting her choice. But every thought all converged back to the one image. The horrible image that she wished nothing more than to be able to expunge it from her memory bank. The thought of them, lying… No it was strewn, that was the way they were when she had found them on the ground after the battle. After Thalia had told her the heartbreaking news.

Shaking her head from her depressing thoughts, the goddess of the hunt tore her silver gaze off of the mud that had gathered on her boots as she marched towards her father's domain, and onto the path that lay ahead. She tried to focus on her mission, what she was going to say, how her brother would react to the request; anything that would get her mind of off the images that were plaguing her day and night. Through the realms of consciousness and dreams these images followed the goddess wherever she went; she simply could not escape them. The emotions, the past, it was all adding up to push the tired huntress to a brink of insanity; at least that's what the others would think of her actions after they learned of her plan. Artemis prayed to Tyche that they wouldn't find out until after her plan was complete; she had received enough bad fortune from the war already.

Artemis shook her head again, but this time to shake off the expressions she had conjured up in her mind, the expressions that would surely be their faces after they learned of her plan. Anger, horror, sympathy, maybe even pleasure from Ares; he had always enjoyed a good fight. The things they would say about her, it would surely haunt the goddess for the rest of eternity, but she had to avenge their deaths. She had to kill _him_. This is what she would tell anyone that questioned her, or stood in her way of completing the quest.

While still in her musings, Artemis had reached her destination, the forge of her half-brother Hephaestus. Artemis knew the fire god would be here, tinkering on various side projects and moping over his son Leo's "death". Artemis was certain the boy wasn't dead, but since the gods couldn't find him everyone had to assume the worst. The moon goddess just hoped that Hephaestus would be able to put aside his grief to be able to help his fellow grieving sibling on her quest.

After getting inside the forge with almost getting injured by the booby traps outside, the goddess of the hunt found a scene that truly brought tears to her eyes. There sat her half-brother, the god of the forge, sitting in his forge, surrounded by blueprints and half-finished projects and the forge god was simply doing nothing. Shoulders slumped, his brown eyes cloudy, Hephaestus was a sad sight indead as he just stared at the fire and literally ignored his projects, which was unheard of with him.

Without moving, Hephaestus asked stolidly, "What do you want Artemis?" He gestured to his video monitors that showed the whole outside of Mt. St. Helens where the forge resided and added before Artemis could reply. "I've been watching you climb for the past two hours."

Artemis moved forward so Hephaestus could see her and she stated with her silver eyes locked with the brown eyes of the forge god. "I'm here for your help for a quest that I'm on."

The brown eyes broke the eye contact and moved to the package the goddess had removed from her backpack as she had spoken. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "And that is?"

Hesitantly, Artemis unwrapped the package and revealed the dried molten metal that she had wrapped in cloth to store it safely to show the god. "I need you to craft a weapon for me, one that will help me deal with somebody." She laid the metal on the ground at the god's feet so he could examine it.

Hephaestus questioned sadly in response, "Artemis has there not been enough belligerent behavior recently?" The fire god's eyes glazed over and a somber expression crept onto his face as he continued, "The losses of the war have caused enough sorrow for every being, mortal and non-mortal. We cannot jeopardize our peace based on some silly quest of yours."

The silver eyes of the huntress flashed inclemently as she leaned closer to the fire god and hissed a retort, "This is not a silly quest! This quest is very important for me!"

And being the one with more emotional control, Hephaestus asked nonchalantly, "And what is your quest dear sister? If I must oblige to help you, surely I get to know the fine details of this 'quest' of yours."

This shut Artemis up as she leaned back and folded her arms against her chest defensively. This interaction was not going the way she planned. Hephaestus was just supposed to aide her without question, not toy with her emotions like his half-finished trinkets. But looking at his rigid face, the moon goddess knew that her brother would not lose anything if she did not agree to his terms, while Artemis would lose the way to finish her mission.

Grudgingly she turned to stare at her brother in the eye and she spoke of her plans, "I am going to kill Orion." She spoke softly at first and paused, terrified if the words would affect the god in a way that would delete the way forward in her quest. But after a few moments of the same expression, she continued with a higher, more confident tone, "He has wiped out most of my hunters and I need to end him forever. Since he is technically dead, I must use a weapon that can suck the soul of even an immortal. The only weapon I had access to was this one." She finished by gesturing to the metal on the ground.

Hephaestus's eyes moved from the metal at his feet back to his sister a few times while trying to connect the dots and figure out what weapon it was. Realization hit him suddenly and he stared at his sister in the eyes as if trying to understand why she was doing this. Artemis shifted uncomfortably under his stare and looked away quickly, flashing back to her pervious fears she had while climbing the mountain.

Sensing this, Hephaestus spoke gruffly, as if he had thorns in his throat and it hurt to speak, "I am not judging you Artemis."

Snapping her head back to his words, her silver eyes questioning, but the fire god cut her off. "I understand grief can bring out pain and while there is no panacea for grief besides time itself, and even with that cure, the pain still hurts." He paused for a moment to clear his throat and Artemis realized with further examination, the god's eyes were brimming with tears waiting to fall. When he continued, his voice was cracked and strained with emotion, "I have been feeling grief for the past month and I know what you are going through. I also know that you do not want to hear a lecture about actions based on this dreadful emotion, so I will spare you the lecture."

With that sentence complete, the god of the forge let the tears fall down his cheeks as he looked forlornly into the fire in his forge. Feeling the waves of depression hit her, Artemis stood there awkwardly, unsure of how to act around her brother. Sure he was her family, but they rarely interacted, much less share a deep, emotional moment. In fact the only one of her brothers she actually interacted with to that level was Apollo. Cursing her tears that were now flowing freely down her cheeks, the huntress sat on the bench next to the god and stared at the fire alongside him.

After a few moments, Artemis brushed her auburn hair behind her ears to keep it from falling in her face and she turned to face Hephaestus. Speaking to him softly, she said, "Thank you for understanding my feelings and wishes."

A small smile reached through the wall of sadness on the god's face as he replied, "I know this is a different experience for you, seeing me cry. But I had to let it go, the tears had reached the top and they had to come out at some point." Turing to face Artemis in the eyes, he continued, "I'm glad that you are not sitting idly by like me as well. You are putting your pain to use; ridding the world of an evil. And for that I will help you by making a weapon for you."

As if the smile on the god's face was contagious, Artemis caught it on her face as well. Reaching for her brother's shoulder in a foreign instinct to comfort him, she replied, "I really am in your debt dear brother, as much as I hate being indebted to a man. You are helping me in more ways than one, and for that I thank you."

With her silver eyes locked with brown, the moon goddess stood up and offered Hephaestus her hand to help him up. He took it and together they began to plan out what type of weapon it was going to be.

* * *

><p>As the moon goddess was taking her leave with the newly transformed package in her hands, she stood facing her brother. She held out her hand and he grasped it in a firm shake of farewell. After their skin was no longer touching, Artemis said, "As a sign of appreciation, I will send my remaining hunters to search for your son if you would like." She offered in a rare sign of goodwill towards men.<p>

Hephaestus merely nodded in reply, the thought of Leo saddening him, "If that will help you convince yourself that you are out of debt with me, than do as you wish sister. I do not want to torment you with that idea, very unlike that dear twin of yours would."

Grimacing at the thought of what Apollo would have her do if she ever fell into his debt, Artemis confirmed her plan, "Then that will be their new mission."

Clutching her package, Artemis shifted her view to the outlook of the mountain and the city underneath which was tainted in the moonlight. "I must be going then to the underworld where I must discuss with our uncle about that little favor he still owes me from back during World War 2." She said with revengeful desire filling her silver eyes.

With a stern look, the fire god warned, "Just because I promised not to give a lecture does not mean others will as well. You be careful with this plan of yours."

Acknowledging the warning with a nod Artemis said, "Thanks you for your care and help Hephaestus, I will heed your warning well." She also added as she turned to start walking down the mountainside, "I do hope you will be alright as well."

Her brother replied somberly, "I will be alright. The grief will still let up for a while I fear. But I did enjoy the distraction from it that you created with your mission. It helped quite a lot." He smiled a little at the memory of the joy in him springing back to life while he was working on the project; it had revived a part of him that he had missed dearly during his depression. "With your help, I reawakened my desire to craft again that had died when my son did. Now I may never get over Leo's death, but I will have a coping method at least."

Artemis could not help but feel joyful at her brother's words, he was recovering and that was good. Now all she needed to do was to do was go and get her revenge and then she would get rid of the hole in her heart that was slowly getting bigger each moment she delayed her mission. The necessary detour to the forge had been a wonderful distraction from the pain, but now it was returning and she wanted it gone.

"Well then without further delay, I will give you a farewell and a promise to come if you ever need me. I swear upon the River Styx to keep that promise." Artemis said hurriedly with a wave and thunder was heard overhead as she finished speaking. With that she walked down the hill after a wave from Hephaestus who had sensed the goddess's anxiety and had held his tongue after his sister's declaration. Instead his eyes said everything as they met the silver ones of the huntress for the last time. _Thank you._

And with that two godly figures parted ways.

**Can you guys guess what weapon Artemis had at the beginning? I thought it would be fun to test the knowledge of the fandom a little. Hope you enjoyed the story. Reviews are welcome, but I'm not going to say they're mandatory, just appreciated. Thanks.**


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